There are 53 players aged 24 or younger who have at least 100 PA in the majors. In terms of OPS, two of the top three are Mets. Francisco Alvarez is third with a .900 OPS while Mark Vientos is second with a .941 mark. A year ago, whenever someone mentioned the younger guys who came up from the farm system, they were quick to call them the “Baby Mets.” You don’t hear that term too often here in 2024. But these homegrown Mets are getting it done. We’ve talked about Alvarez but not so much Vientos. So, let’s focus on the team’s second choice to play third base.
We’ve talked a lot about how Tylor Megill always seemed to be the club’s favorite to get an open slot in the rotation. And we can say the same thing about Brett Baty being the favorite for third base. When Eduardo Escobar struggled last April, the Mets called up Baty, who had all of 42 PA in Triple-A under his belt. Vientos had 427 PA at Syracuse in 2022, with an .877 OPS, the highest mark of the 22 players to amass at least 100 PA at that level.
While Baty was off to a hot start in those nine games, Vientos had a .346/,417/.692 line at the time of Baty’s promotion. But the Mets valued 42 PA of Baty at the top minor-league level over 487 PA of Vientos.
And while Vientos got a promotion a month after Baty, his playing time was sporadic. While Baty played every day – and struggled after a hot first two weeks – Vientos received just 49 PA over 25 team games. Unsurprisingly, he had just a .469 OPS and found himself back in the minors.
The shampoo bottles say, “Lather, rinse, repeat,” and that’s what happened with Vientos. He went back to Syracuse, played every day and hit well, which got him another shot in Queens. Again, he received sporadic playing time and didn’t distinguish himself. But this time, the Mets had finally seen enough failure from Baty to send him back to the minors, giving Vientos a shot at consistent playing time. His numbers to close the season weren’t eye-popping but his .687 OPS n his final 130 PA were an improvement over what he did earlier and better than Baty’s .598 mark.
The Mets bring in a new management team for 2024 and every indication is that they’re going to use this season as a chance to see what their young players can do. Baty looks much improved in the field and the plan becomes to use him at third base, with Vientos being the primary DH. And then near the end of Spring Training, the club signs J.D. Martinez and Vientos no longer has an open spot.
But there’s still hope, as Martinez will require a minor league tuneup to get ready for the season. Vientos can get early ABs and get a chance to stay in the majors if Baty falters early on. But the Mets opt to send Vientos back to Syracuse. To be fair, it was expected that Martinez wasn’t going to need a lot of time to get into shape. But it turned out to be a month before Martinez was ready.
Meanwhile, Baty continued to be unimpressive at the plate and Vientos hit well in Triple-A. He had an .876 OPS before getting the call for good to the majors. There was a brief stint with the Mets at the end of April, when he went 3-7 with a HR, but he did not come up for good until the middle of May. Baty and Vientos split time at the position, until the Mets finally sent Baty back to the minors, hopefully to get the 200 or so consecutive PA he clearly needs at the level.
And all Vientos has done is hit.
In just 150 PA, Vientos has a 1.6 fWAR. He’s been helped out with the hits falling in some, as he sports a .333 BABIP. But Vientos also has a .280 ISO, which means that it’s more than some singles finding holes. While he doesn’t have enough PA to qualify for the leaderboards yet, Statcast shows him with above-average numbers in nearly every offensive metric. Vientos has a 15.8 Barrel%, compared to a 12.8 rate for Francisco Lindor and a 12.7 mark for Pete Alonso.
He’s still not good defensively but Vientos has made improvements in the field. Last year, in 153 innings at 3B in the majors, he had a (-4) DRS, a (-13.4) UZR/150 and a (-1) FRV – which is Statcast’s Fielding Runs Value. This year, in 288.1 innings, Vientos has a (-2) DRS, a (-2.9) UZR/150 and a (-1) FRV.
Add it all together and it doesn’t seem like Vientos is in any jeopardy to lose his position to Baty anytime soon. Even though he wasn’t the favored child, his talent won out in the end. And for the Mets, may Christian Scott and/or Jose Butto have their talent win out over the favored Megill, too.
Megill’s recent performance has to have cost him that top spot on the Quad-squad totem pole. He’s had enough chances, and he’s proven what he is or isn’t. His success a few years back was the aberration, and the mediocrity (or worse) is his norm. Butto and Scott, a newcomer and an upstart, will get their chances now or soon. If they perform well, they graduate from Quad-A status and move forward.
While they’re the same age, Vientos was a year ahead of Baty when he reached AA.
Vientos also spent the time and paid his dues in AAA, and worked out everything he needed to work out at that level (and then some), something Baty had not been given the opportunity to do until now. Hopefully this gets Baty over. The impending departures of the 1B and/or full-time DH means there is room for both of them in the line-up moving forward.
I believe they liked Baty’s left-handed bat and also thought he was a better fielder than Vientos. They were wrong. Baty was given every chance to take 3B for the foreseeable future but dropped the ball on both sides of his game. Granted his time at AAA was very limited and there are those who say a longer time there will help with maturity and growth, but with Escobar faultering, they had to do something. Kudos to Vientos for going back to AAA and hitting the crap out of the ball, and then when getting called up the second time (he never should have been sent down), he has hit a ton and played a decent if not average 3B. He has made just two errors and I see no issue with Iggy as a defensive replacement if Vientos won’t have another turn at bat. There is nothing like producing to keeping yourself in the lineup.
Now can we bat Alvarez higher than 7th???
Vientos has one the third base job this year. Next year Vientos should be a regular starter at 3B, 1B or DH depending on the vacancy. He has earned his position and status.
As for Stearns, he is new and had to rely on his present people that evaluate minor leaguers. By the offseason, he will have a more personal idea of his minor leaguers and the management that evaluate them.
As a side note, Rafael Montero was evaluated better than Jacob deGrom in 2014.
Remember when Terry Collins went to see Rafael Montero pitch during an off day and wanted to “properly motivate him”? LOL, who should they send to properly motivate Brett Baty?